Labor

Until recently, consumers had difficulty finding nail salons that did not use toxic cosmetics. Consumers could ask for less toxic products, but the fumes and smells from products were irritating to consumers and dangerous to workers. Thus, an alternative has emerged: the ‘green’ nail salon.

In the wake of a series of allegations from the Hong Kong-based Students and Scholars Against Corporate Misbehavior, Disney has deployed auditors to China's Guangdong Province to investigate the working conditions at one of its toy factories. Last month, SSACM recorded the complaints of workers at the factory in question, and found that laborers had been subjected to 16-hour work days with only two days off per month, and overtime compensation that was less than half the wage mandated by Chinese law.

In the wake of one of the most damaging child labor scandals of the past few years, The Observer is reporting that Gap Inc is considering measures that would break new ground in the retail clothing industry's commitment to preventing future abuses.

An investigation by the UK's Observer has revealed Gap clothing being manufactured by children as young as eight, under unspeakable conditions. It appears that at least one of Gap's Indian vendors subcontracted a portion of its orders to factories where children were beaten and forced to work from morning until after midnight without pay.